could Molluscum contagiosum have been misdiagnosed?

[alexa5207]

About 4 months ago my boyfriend and I were having sex, and directly after he developed what i thought to be a rash on his lower abdomen. we both assumed it was from heat, sweat and friction especially since i had just shaved and i too myself was red but didnt have a rash. the rash persisted for days and days and i started to get worried. i was fine down there. the rash looked sort of like pimples and were red and scattered in different places. more time went by and i saw that it wasnt going away so i became even more worried. by the way, he said they didnt hurt or itch unless he messed with them so i told him to leave them alone and we went to the doctors. we told the doctor that they developed directly after sex and the doc asked me if i had anything and i said no. the doc then asked my bf if he had been sexually active with someone else (which of course worried me)...and he said no. so then he asked my bf if he had been around any plants or anything of that nature. well my bf works in a supermarket and they sell flowers there but he doesnt work in that section. anyway we were left believing it was an allergic reaction to something since i didnt have any signs of it. a couple of weeks went by, and he developed bumps on his scrotum area, but nothing on his penis whatsoever so now im a nervous wreck. we go to a different doctor and she says the bumps on his scrotum were from jock itch and prescribes clotrimazole and that the rash on his abdomen is molluscum contagiosum and prescribes hydrocortisone 2%...about a week or 2 later from using the meds, they both have cleared up. i had never heard of this MC ever in my life before this but it made me look into it and what i dont get is if its so contagious, how come i didnt catch it and how come the doctor who diagnosed it said it was in fact ok for my bf and i to have sex while he had it and how come it never spread anywhere else on his body when he kept provoking it and trying to pop them? could it have been misdiagnosed? or could my bf have been unfaithful and caught it from someone? he says he wasnt but we've never experienced anything like this before, both together and individually...i trust him and i believe he's being sincere, but am i being naive? could it just have been a rash?

[auntiejessi]

Same thing with the clotrimazole.  That's an antifungal, and MCV wouldn't respond to that.

Aj

[alexa5207]

its ok but see thats what lead me to believe it was from sweat and friction esp since i had just shaved and was kinda stubbly and it developed literally after sex, it was weird.

[daisy315]

I apologise I misread your post at the start I thought you said you did have a rash,but on re-reading it yours was a shaving rash.
Also I am not clued up at all on the treatment of MC or how long it takes to clear so I wouldn't know what would or wouldn't work,I'm sure AJ is correct and more knowledgeable on this than I am .... I was more trying to reassure you that if the Doctor said it was MC it doesn't neccesarily mean it was contracted via sexual contact and not to settle on that as being the only way he could have got it,as I believe MC can be caught from such things as contact sports and stuff.

Sorry for misenterpretating what you wrote :-(

Daisy    

[alexa5207]

im sorry it was actually the clotromazole that it responded to within a week. does that still mean it wasnt MC?

[auntiejessi]

If it responded to hydrocortisone, its not molluscum.

Hydrocortisone works on rashes, fungal infections, etc.  It doesn't work on viruses, and MCV is a virus.

MCV can also linger for a looong time.  If it cleared up, or is clearing up in a week, its not molluscum.

Aj

[alexa5207]

i certainly understand what your saying and i appreciate your response but if i were the one to have contracted it and passed it on to him, wouldnt i have had the bumps as well? and he scratch and irritate them as well which makes me wonder why they didnt spread from that. also when i was researching molluscum it said that it takes 1-3 months before the lesions appeared, this showed up immediately following sex that consisted of A LOT of friction which made think it was weird. and if he touched an infected object how would it end up on his abdomen and not his fingers?

[alexa5207]

thanx for the responses everyone, but to webcrawler you were right when you listed the evidence that i have, but please tell me, put yourself in my shoes and in your opinion, what would you do if you were me given everything you know?

[daisy315]

I would think the Doctors diagnosis was correct in saying it was Molluscum,it's a virus that can infect through skin to skin contact with another infected person OR from touching infected objects,it is also easily spread to other areas if scatching and cross infecting is going on,please don't jump to the conculsion that your b/f was unfaithful it could just as easily have been the other way around you could have got it and passed it onto him through touching something,Doctors can be wrong sometimes but I think we forget that they see many many rashes in their days work and are pretty well trained to spot something they would consider to be an STD I'm sure he only asked if your b/f  was sexually active with someone else because of the skin to skin thing,but it can be caught other ways as well so try not to settle on him being unfaithful as being the ONLY way he could have got it.

Daisy      

[helpmeplease000001]

i am no medical expert however, i have been misdiagnosed for awhile now. living in uncertainty or being told to take anti-depressants, that everything is in your head is a little erroneous to say the least only to find out the reason for infection. my situation stemmed from oral sex with my girlfriend who said she never did it before and about a day or two later i noticed a mark and really freaked out. i got told a lot of wrongful info however, if it cleared up whatever the situation it was be happy. i would get checked out and make sure your boyfriend gets checked out. bacterias and fungus can come from all sorts of places. to answer your Q: of course doctors can make mistakes. they judge based upon appearances, then based upon symptoms followed by their personal experiences and of course their opinion. glad it worked out for you.

[webcrawler]

doctors are human beings. sometimes they make mistakes. sometimes they don't know and guess wrong. sometimes they are forced to guess because the situation is unclear.

you are now in the same position as the doctor:

1. you have a medical professional that said it was mc, but you do not know the reason.
2. you have researched mc on the web and determined that it is at least plausible that it was misdiagnosed
3. your boyfriend says that has been faithful
4. you assume that you did not have it previously (without symptomatic bumps)

there is your evidence. the decision is up to you. you options are:

a. assume he cheated and dump him
b. assume he cheated and keep him
c. assume that he did not cheat

you have decide what your truth will be and live with it.

[alexa5207]

also, is it possible for a doctor to misdiagnose something like this? im racking my brain with confusion as to why the doc would say its that when his symptoms didnt seem like that at all. i guess you can say im looking for some reassurance. please help, i dont want to think that he's been unfaithful but if it was what the doctor said, how do i get past it?

[alexa5207]

thanks so much for responding, you definitely helped put my mind at ease. I was thinking the same thing but then when the doctor said it was MC i was worried but confused why she would say it would be ok that we could continue to have sex. I also found it strange that it never spread to any other part of his body or mine and he used the clotrimazole that she had prescribed for his jock itch on his abdomen and less than a week it was completely gone, I've heard that usually MC takes months to go away on its own or you have to have them frozen or something like that. What i dont get is why didnt either of the doctors tell me this? (mind you, neither of them took any tests, they based there opinion on looking at it), but when the first doc asked if he was sexually active with someone else, thats when i began questioning his fidelity...seems like im getting a better diagnosis here than from an actual doctor. thanks again.

[scared_half_to_death]

MC doesnt show up immediately. Herpes takes a few days to show up. If either was the source of the infection, it came prior to that day. Frankly, it sounds more like friction, folliculitis, or a fungus.

If it was MC, it may have run its course and there is not much that you can do about it now.

If the bumps come back, have him go to planned parenthood or his doctor immediately for a culture. You can also get a standard STD plus a type specific Herpes test. However, herpes is probably not the cause.

You cannot assume that he is unfaithful. However, you can take precautions:

a. Do not have sex when he has symptoms
b. Use condoms
c. Have him get the above tests